The 2013 Jugend Innovativ competition saw Tecan collaborating with HLFS Ursprung and the Stiegl brewery to optimize the HybriScan™D Beer assay (Sigma-Aldrich) for the quality control of beer on an Infinite® M200 PRO multimode reader. Bernhard Stehrer, a science teacher at HLFS Ursprung, explained: “Students voluntarily participate in the prestigious Jugend Innovativ competition during their leisure time, and decided to investigate the science behind the quality control of beer. Stiegl provided samples for analysis and showed us the methods used in its laboratory, which involve assessment of cultures under a microscope. It can take a long time to acquire sufficient experience to confidently assess cultures this way, and we felt that molecular methods might be faster and easier to learn.”
Julia Füreder, a Concept Engineer at Tecan Austria, continued: “We did some research, and discovered the HybriScanD Beer assay, a rapid molecular test using photometric detection. I immediately thought of the Infinite M200 PRO, and Tecan agreed to support the study. The results were really good, and compared well with those of the brewery. The students achieved a creditable 3rd place in the competition, demonstrating that the new method is both sensitive and time saving and, from a technical point of view, easier to perform. It also avoids the need for cultivation, generating results in hours rather than days, which is a huge benefit.”